Wednesday, May 23, 2012

What Happened in Patagonia?

Most
have likely read about my and Hayden Kennedy's trip to the Cerro Torre range in
southern Patagonia this past winter, so I won't go into much detail. We had
what I would describe as an audacious season, climbing all four Torres
(Standhardt, Herron, Egger, Cerro Torre) in fine fast style. Also, a new route
on another beautiful face we called The
Gentleman's Club. We managed to be the first to skip the hundreds
of bolts placed along Cerro Torre's southeast ridge, what they called a 'fair
means' ascent. We then proceeded to remove over a hundred bolts from the mountain,
restoring the summit of the Torre to its rightful place amongst the most
difficult spots on the planet to reach.

The alpine Fitz tease above the Rio de las Vueltas.

Hayden and I on the summit of Torre Egger.

Many
legendary figures spoke out in support of our actions, some vilified us. Both
are equally unimportant - that's their story, not ours. I've included links below to some opinions, if anyone is keen to read a bunch of people's thoughts on our actions. If not please skip ahead to a couple photos from climbing in Patagonia with Hayden Kennedy, and a few of what I've been up to recently:

It
was great to be back home in Squamish in early spring. I did some awesome steep
skiing in the coast range and some huge days of powder slaying with some key
motivated brothers. My fitness was nearing an all time high. Almost every day I
would charge up the backside of the Squamish Chief with a heavily loaded
paraglider bag. Perfect training for alpinism - and I could fly off and land
some 200' from my house.

Scoping out the Prow and Pan Walls on my glider. I called up fellow Squamish pilot Paul McSorley just before I launched and he took these shots from his front deck.

In Squamish in winter, it stops raining and the winds pick up a little pretty much every day. If you time it right you can fly almost every day. Paul McSorley photo.

The
bad news came that my expedition to Pakistan fell threw. I was bummed. To cheer
up I boarded a plane for France a couple days later with alpine climbing gear,
skis, and a paraglider. I was planning on a mountain holiday of north faces,
steep skiing, and lots of flying in the Chamonix area. The weather would not
cooperate, forcing us pretty soon to the south of France for sunny sport
climbing and world class flying in the historic Gorges du Verdon. Not a bad
compromise!

Tony grimping high above the lake... rocking the beret hard.

Me and Touch flying above the town of Moustier St. Marie. Paul McSorley Photo.

Touch on a classic Verdon pitch of 6c.

Paul McSorley photo.

Paul McSorley photo.

Walking to launch. Paul McSorley photo.

But launching before a coffee would be so sauvage... Paul McSorley photo.

High wind launch in Verdon. Paul McSorley photo.

Normally I would have been confused as to were to go, but luckily I had this arrow to show the way. Paul McSorley photo.

Cocktail hour with Pennings and Jimmy on the rim of the gorge! Paul McSorley photo.